Fice
by Ancient85
Summary: A new mutant arrives at the institute in need of control over her gifts. Are these powers just the beginning of what she can do? And how does Magneto and Mystique fit into this?
1. Finding Fire

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the characters that I create.**

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_For a while I thought I was the only one. The only one that had 'a gift'. I don't remember at what moment I realized I was different than the other kids. I think it was the time I nearly burned down the place trying to light the candles myself. It seems ordinary, but how many kids do you know that can light a candle just by touching it? I didn't understand how I did that. I mean I understood the concept of fire and how it burned I just didn't understand how it could be coming out of me. After that day I was looked at differently. Like I was something that shouldn't exist. My childhood from that day on was filled with odd looks and cold stares. I wasn't like everyone else and they all hated me for it. Everyone except my family. They stood by me. Told me that they would find someone to help me. Sticking by your family no matter what was a concept highly used in my family. They didn't hate me. They didn't see me as a curse. They only saw me. Even though they promised my they would stand by me I know that I needed to leave for a while. I didn't want to hurt them. I didn't have control. I don't know if it's possible for me. I'm gifted. For a while I thought I was the only one._

Life wasn't easy. She knew that much. More so for the mutants…like her. Her mutation was nothing short of ironic and sometimes downright cruel…just like others. She had powers that cancelled each other out, yet she had no control over them. The severity of her mutation made it hard to have a normal childhood. Her family had to move often to avoid the hateful shouts of neighbors and townspeople. She had heard the same shouts all before, but what could she do, leave and hope that her powers remained hidden from the outside world.

Getting off the elevator and walking down the hallway towards her hotel room, Vanessa thought about all that had brought her here to this location. The mob. Their shouts. The shard remains of her previous home. She had no intention of going back. No, it was only forwards for her. Sure she had to put as much space between her and her family. Only to protect them from a world that wasn't too accepting of what others before referred to as 'her kind'. She was the source of the problem so she decided to distance herself from them.

A note on her door causes a sigh to escape her lips as she rips it off the door. Opening it she finds a short written paragraph by her previous employer asking her to return to the 'company'.

'Not in a million years' she says to herself. 'Not ever again.'

She still had deep emotional scars from the previous employment that hadn't healed yet. Vanessa wasn't willing to reopen nearly healed wounds. She had to leave …again. She moved a lot, but they still tracked her down.

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Monday morning came, much to the dismay of the students at the institute. The weekend was over and everyone had to go back to work, school or whatever. The students went about their business, which consisted of fighting over the last biscuit, and then realizing whom the cook was that morning proceeded to dare each other to eat the inedible monster-like biscuit.

"I'll give you five dollars to eat it." Bobby says tossing it to Jamie.

"Make it ten." Jamie replies.

"I'll give ya twenty!" Another yells from across the room

"Come on its not, like, that bad." Logan walks in the room.

"What's for breakfast, half pint?"

"Eggs, bacon, and my special biscuits." Logan nods and grabs a plate of food before exiting the room.

"See he likes the food."

"Yeah, but he can heal himself, we can't." says Jamie still holding the biscuit in his hand. Kitty pouts.

All of a sudden the biscuit is engulfed in flames. Jamie drops the flaming biscuit to the floor and stomps out the flames.

"Now you guys have nothing to fight over," says a voice from the doorway.

In the doorway stood a girl around 20 years old. She tucked a loose strand of reddish brown hair behind her ear as she spoke. Her hand came to rest at her side. The black jumpsuit she wore seemed to hug every curve of her body, which most of the males in the room had already noticed.

Her outfit was complete with a set of matching black gloves. The right glove had fire-like designs on it while the other glove had various designs in blue.

"Hey what was that for?" Jamie says still waving the hand that was temporarily burned by the flame.

"Just trying to end the argument." The girl says with a shrug. A small fame flickers over her index finger before it disappears.

"Like who are you anyway. Are you new to the institute?"

"I'm Vanessa. I just got here." Kitty walks up to her. A small duffle bag is on the floor near Vanessa's feet.

"Nice to meet you, Vanessa." Kitty says holding out her hand.

"Same here, Kitty." Kitty is surprised to say the least that Vanessa would know her name.

"How did ya…?"

"Know? I know quite a bit." Vanessa smiles picking up her bag.

"You read my mind?"

"No not exactly. I tell you later. But now I need to see the professor."

"I can, like, show you where his office is at." Leads her down the hall. Jamie still clutches his slightly burned hand.

"Aw come on Jamie it ain't that bad." Bobby says giving him a swift pat on the back.

"Ouch that hurts."

"So are you going to be a student?" Kitty asks as they make their way to the office. "No you look too old to be a student. Not that you're old or anything. Teacher maybe?"

"Actually I don't know." Vanessa says smiling "I just came to see if Professor Xavier could help me control my power."

"I didn't seem like you didn't have, like, control back there. What's your power anyway if it isn't already obvious?"

"I can control fire or rather trying to control it." Vanessa says as a ball of fire appears in her right hand. "I can also manipulate water… sometimes ice."

"Wow! That's like…"

"Cool?" Vanessa says causing Kitty to laugh.

"We're, like, here," Kitty says pointing to the door a few feet in front of them.

"_Come in the door is open." _The professor says telepathically.

"Can never get used to that." Kitty says shaking her head.

"I'll see you later, Kitty." With that Vanessa opens the door and walks in.

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Living Room

"Ah hear there's a new student," says Rogue from a couch at the end of the room. The book in Rogue's hands was long forgotten.

"I think she's a new teacher sure seems old enough." Says Kitty.

"And hot." Adds Jamie, which gets eye rolls from everyone in the room.

"You don't got a chance, Jamie," Bobby says.

"And you do?" asks Jamie.

"Better than you," Bobby says straightening his clothes.

"You're room will be this way, my child." Storm motions up the stairs and proceeds to show Vanessa the way to her room. Bobby and Jamie scramble to their feet. They head towards the door, but instead they fall over each other and end up on the floor.

"Oh yeah boys that'll get her attention," comments Rogue.

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"I'm sure you are all aware of the arrival of our newest resident Ms. Vanessa Crux. Please stand, Vanessa." The professor says formally introducing her at dinner.

"I'm also aware of all your questions and will put them to rest by telling you all that we have asked Ms. Crux to teach our new gardening class. I hope you all we make Ms. Crux feel welcome here. And if any of you are interested in joining her class please speak to me after dinner in my office."

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It had been several hours since Vanessa's arrival and subsequent introduction to all of the mansion's residents at dinner. Having just unpacked what little belongings she brought with her, Vanessa makes her way to the balcony outside her bedroom window and sits on the balcony's railing with her feet dangling over the edge.

"Ain't that dangerous?" A gruff voice asks.

The voice startles Vanessa causing her to nearly fall over the edge before she regains her balance.

"It is when someone startles you." Vanessa says turning her head and body to face the person that the voice belonged to.

"Sorry 'bout that. The name's Logan."

"The one that showed up late." Vanessa says recognizing him immediately when he walks out of the shadows.

"Yeah."

Vanessa adjusts her gloves.

"So is this customary."

"What?"

"To scare the new residents on their first night here."

"Just call me the welcoming committee." Logan says with a smirk. "So what's your power, kid?"

"Kid?" Vanessa asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah _**kid**_"

Vanessa snaps her fingers and a ball of fire appears on the palm of her gloved hand.

"Impressive."

She smiles and lifts her other hand. A gush of water shoots out of her palm to put out the flame.

"Now that's just showing off. How 'bout you show those powers of yours in the danger room."

"Danger room? What's the danger room?"

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The next day

"Ah don't believe this! Ya did what?"

"Come on its, like, just one class." Kitty pleads.

"Yeah, but gardening?"

"I couldn't find anything else, Rogue. Since you, like, took your sweet time looking for an after school activity. This was all that was left. Plus it could be good for you to get out in the sun for a while. You look totally pale and stuff." Rogue glares at Kitty. "So that's a yes?"

"Fahne!" Rogue storms off, leaving Kitty jumping up and down because she had won an argument with Rogue.

"Don't forget it, like, starts in a few minutes!" Shouting to Rogue's retreating figure.

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"Hello everyone! I'm glad that so much of you decided to join my class." Veronica says to everyone. Jamie and Bobby are sitting in front, hanging on to every word Vanessa says.

"My name is, if you don't already know, Vanessa Crux."

Jamie's hand shoots up to ask a question.

"Yes, Jamie."

"Can I do anything for extra credit?"

The class rolls their eyes. Vanessa smiles.

"Not at this time, Jamie, but there will be plenty of opportunities for extra credit."

"Now getting back to what we're going to do today. Today we will go over the rules." Vanessa says which is followed by groans from the class. "Trust me its important that everyone knows the rules to avoid any accidents."

She waits a while before continuing. "Very well lets get started. First it is very important that we know what we are working with. We have the gloves." Showing them a pair.

"We wear them to avoid splinters and various other things from getting on our hands. Something of the things we will work with may react badly when in contact with our bare skin."

"Not a problem for the Rogue over there. Seeing as her skin is poison enough as it is." A kid says receiving a glare from Rogue.

"At least its my excuse for people not wanting to touching meh, whats yours?" replies Rogue.

"That's enough Jeremy. One more word out of you and it's to Professor Xavier's office."

Jeremy nods and sinks back into his chair. Vanessa hands the students a handout of the rules.

"Now Ms. Pride would you like to read the rest of the rules for the class."

"Sure."

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Mystique enters the room with the mission at hand clear in her mind. She waste no time in disposing of the unconscious security guards in an empty closet. Knocking them out was a drastic change from killing them without a second thought. Maybe she was going soft.

She scoffs at the idea.

Raven Darkhome is never soft.

She continues through the room and stops at a dusty gray file cabinet. Mystique thumbs through the files in the cabinet until her fingers reach a particular folder. She opens the file.

File No. 3285

Vanessa Crux

Powers – Water Manipulation

Info: Donated to the program by willing relative at 4 years old

Current Whereabouts: Unknown, possibly kidnapped by mutant rebel known as Mystique

Notes: Various tests were done on child, but no visible results have been noted at this time. Lab work will continue next week.

Mystique closes the file and slams the cabinet shut. She leaves the room with the file clenched tightly in her hands.

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**That's all for now. Please review. Tell me what you think**


	2. Learning

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the character that I create.**

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Everyone filed out of the room once class was over and like always Rogue was the last one out.

"Um, Rogue, may I speak with you for a moment." Vanessa asks unsure of how to begin.

"Alright."

"The professor spoke to me about your mutation. Don't let that kid get to you."

"He doesn't get to meh. Nothing does."

"I understand what you must be going through not being able to touch."

"Ya understand meh? How does that work?"

"I know I might seem like a stranger to you, but I know more about what you been going through than you think. People take it for granted. You and I both know how special it is."

"Whateva teach. Can ah go now?"

"Yes Rogue, but remember what I said. I will be here if you ever need to talk." Rogue leaves.

Vanessa looks down at her gloved hands.

'Believe me I know what its like.'

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Watching sunsets was a rarity in the life of Vanessa Crux, but she made a point to watch as many as she could. Previous training with a family friend made enjoying the sun's slow decent difficult. She would always be training …for what she never asked. She wasn't supposed to. So she didn't. She just spent hours training her body to fight, to protect itself.

Learning about the existence of the danger room made it less hopeful of ever regaining a ritual she started as a little girl.

It was her first night at the mansion and already the training sessions reared its ugly head. This was exactly what she ran away from. But she couldn't tell the Professor that, much less Logan because it would involve telling them about a part of her she rather not have them know about.

It was easier to keep her mouth shut and deal with the aftershock of sore muscles later.

"That was pretty good, kid." Logan's voice bellows through the intercom.

Beads of sweat ran down Vanessa's red checks.

"Is that all you got?"

Vanessa's question causes a smirk to appear on Logan's face.

"For now. Get some rest, kid."

Vanessa lifts her left hand over her hand and lets loose a small shower of water on herself.

"Hey, kid. We got showers for that." Vanessa looks up at Logan and smiles.

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The cigar was inches away from his mouth when Logan smelt the smoke …and this particular smell was not coming from his lit cigar.

He is halfway to the source of the smell when the mansion's fire alarm system goes off.

"A fire no kidding." He mumbles sarcastically as he stops at the source…. the girl's locker room.

Smoke and stream seeps out of the room.

"Anyone in there!"

The faint running of water answers for him. He dashes inside.

Vanessa barely had time to wrap the towel around her and turn off the shower when Logan runs into the room.

"Logan?"

"Where's the fire?" Logan asks looking for a fire source.

"Fire? There's no fire."

The shriek of the fire alarm passes through the now open doors to reach Vanessa's ears.

"Then what's with the smoke, kid?"

"I can't help it. It happens every time the water touches my arm."

Vanessa raises her right arm to show Logan what she means. Her arm is entirely covered in a glowing flame – from the tip of her fingers to the top of her right shoulder.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'."

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"Today we will each pick something to plant into the ground. And no you cannot plant Jamie, Bobby." The students each get the item they want to plant.

"Ok we need to remember that plants need food just like we do. So watering our plants is a must." Vanessa says holding her plant in her hands. A hand goes up.

"Ms. Crux, how do we know how much water to give it?" a kid asks.

"Good question. Just enough to moisten the dirt, but not too much that the water overflows it. Like this." Water flows from Vanessa's hand and into the pot. "See now you try."

A bird lands on the windowsill and proceeds to tap on the glass.

Vanessa briefly glances at the window before turning her attention to the class

The bird continues to tap on the glass.

Rogue picks up on Vanessa's uneasiness.

"We can't forget…" Tap Tap. "to add enough plant…" Tap Tap. "food to nourish the plant and help it grow. That is all for today."

Jamie raises his hand. "But we still have 30 minutes left."

The class glares at Jamie.

"I thought I give you all the free time to work on your gardening skills. I will see you all same time next week."

The class files out of the room.

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Vanessa waits for all the students to leave before opening the window and letting the annoying bird in.

The bird transforms into the tell tale figure of Mystique.

"You never responded to my message."

"Not responding is my way of refusing your offer. Thanks but no thanks."

"You still have open debts with Magnus."

Vanessa laughs. "And he sent you to collect?"

"No one sent me. I came because I miss my daughter."

"I don't think Rogue is in any mood to see you after what you've done."

Mystique frowns at Vanessa's comment.

"I was not talking about her." Mystique's statement causes Vanessa to laugh again.

"I'm pretty sure you ain't talking about me. I don't think kidnapping me makes you my mother. No matter how twisted the situation was."

"I did not kidnap you or held you against your will. You stayed as long as you did because you wanted."

"If that's what you like to believe."

Vanessa's previous statement registers in Mystique's head.

"Who fed you that rumor?"

"It isn't a rumor when it's in written in black and white."

"What are you talking about?"

Vanessa walks over to her desk and pulls out a data cd from the drawer.

"You're not the only one that can break into that office." Vanessa says twirling the cd between her fingers.

"I've taught you well, my daughter."

The cd erupts into flames in Vanessa's hand. What's left of the cd falls down in ashes.

"Foolish girl. I thought I taught you better control."

"Must have missed that day because all that I remember was being taught to lie, cheat, steal, and kill. Don't remember you teaching control."

"I only taught you to defend yourself."

Vanessa walks over to the window and sighs.

"Their screams still keep me up at night…No amount of sleeping pills can stop that."

"I'm sorry for that."

"Are you, **mother?" **Vanessa turns to face Mystique.** "**Never thought those words would ever escape your lips."

"I am sorry."

"I don't believe you, Mystique. Not after everything you did."

Mystique transforms back into the bird and flies out the window.

"Not after what you made me do."

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**Thats all for now. Please review with your comments.**

**Until Next Time,**

**Ancient 85**


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